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Does its luxury make Cadillac lack affordability?

The Cadillac is America’s original prestige car. It invented the electric starter and it put the classy in chassis. The innovation and precision with Cadillac is directly reflected in its price tag, but just because it’s a luxury vehicle doesn’t mean it’s expensive all around.

We’ve crunched the numbers to see how much it costs to insure the different models of Cadillacs. Let’s go over the basics.

The origins of Cadillac

Cadillac is a General Motors company manufacturing vehicles that are distributed in more than 35 countries worldwide, selling well over 350,000 cars annually. Founded by the the Henry Ford Company in 1902, it is the second-oldest carmaker in the United States, after Buick. Interestingly, the Cadillac crest is based on the coat of arms of the company’s namesake Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who founded the city of Detroit.

The numbers of Cadillac: How much does it cost to own luxury?

Insurance rates vary by make, model and driver. And, because we serve insurance shoppers across America, we use Oregon rates in these articles since they reflect the national average rate.

For each popular Cadillac vehicle model, we calculated what the price of insurance would be for a Portland, Oregon driver who meets the following criteria:

Holds basic, required insurance coverage

Has had no accidents in the past 5 years

Has good credit

Drives a 2018 model

Drives 10,001 – 15,000 miles driven yearly

Here is how it breaks down, by model:

ATS Coupe

The average insurance costs for a Cadillac ATS Coupe is $93 a month — or $1115 a year.

ATS Sedan

The average insurance costs for a Cadillac ATS Sedan is $92 a month — or $1102 a year.

XTS Sedan

The average insurance costs for a Cadillac XTS Sedan is $96 a month — or $1154 a year.

XT5 SUV

The average insurance costs for a Cadillac XT5 is $88 a month — or $1061 a year.

Escalade

The average insurance costs for a Cadillac Escalade is $114 a month — or $1363 a year.

CTS

The average insurance costs for a Cadillac CTS is $100 a month — or $1203 a year.

Surprisingly, for a luxury vehicle with a high price tag, insurance rates are lower than other comparable brands like BMW.

The safety of Cadillac: Is it more than just a luxury car?

While Cadillac has ingrained itself in American consciousness as a luxury vehicle, what’s sometimes lost on the general public is its commitment to innovation. So how does all this relate to car safety, one of the big factors in keeping insurances costs manageable? Let’s have a look.

We leverage two sources to give you an accurate and user-friendly look into the safety reliability of various car models:

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration—“Through enforcing vehicle performance standards and partnerships with state and local governments, NHTSA reduces deaths, injuries and economic losses from motor vehicle crashes.” That’s the organization’s mission statement. They help accomplish this goal with an interactive ratings tool and a vehicle comparison tool. All this could play a big role in helping you choose the best make and model for your situation.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety—In 1959, the organization was established by insurance companies, but it is now an independent nonprofit dedicated to using scientific research and educational outreach to reduce deaths, injuries and property damage due to motor vehicle accidents. They offer a ratings tool online that evaluates vehicles for crashworthiness (how well occupants are protected in a crash) and crash avoidance and mitigation (how well the vehicle can prevent an accident or lessen its severity). Vehicles receive a safety rating of Poor, Marginal, Acceptable or Good across multiple safety categories.

The safety of current Cadillac models

Cadillac ATS Coupe

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gives the Cadillac ATS Coupe a five-star safety rating thanks to an excellent performance in frontal and side crash tests. The ATS Coupe did have one recall implemented, but it involved the fuel system, not initial safety issues.

Cadillac ATS Sedan

The ATS Coupe’s counterpart—the ATS Sedan—performed similarly on all NHTSA reviews. The agency gives the Cadillac ATS Sedan a five-star safety rating across the board. The ATS Sedan had the same fuel system recall issued as the Coupe. Meanwhile, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rated the crash avoidance and mitigation system as Superior, with five out of six points earned. However, its headlight system inadequately performed and garnered the lowest ranking, Poor. That’s because the low beams created excessive glare and high beams had inadequate visibility on straightaways, the IIHS said.

Cadillac XTS Sedan

Similar to the ATS, the XTS received an overall five-star safety rating from the NHTSA. Its performance in frontal and side crash tests solidified its ranking. Unlike the ATS, the XTS did not receive any recalls. Testing done by the IIHS corroborated the NHTSA findings. In fact, the luxury sedan received a Superior ranking for its crash avoidance and mitigation system.

Cadillac XT5 SUV

It’s safe to say the XT5 is not only one of Cadillac’s safest vehicles, but it’s one of the safest vehicles on the road. Its crash avoidance and mitigation system not only received a Superior ranking, but the strongest (6 out of 6 points) a vehicle can receive. Meanwhile, the SUV received the highest safety rating on all measures of crashworthiness. Really the only knock on the XT5 is its headlight system. On curves, the lighting was considered by the IIHS to be inadequate compared to industry standards.

Cadillac Escalade

The Cadillac Escalade is the carmaker’s original SUV, and it underperforms compared to its newer counterpart, the XT5. However, the Escalade is still a safe vehicle. The NHTSA gives it a four-star rating due to a strong side-crash rating (5 of 5 stars), a satisfactory front-crash rating (4 of 5 stars) and a marginal rollover rating (3 of 4 stars). Zero recalls have been implemented regarding the 2018 Escalade. Nonetheless, it needs to be pointed out that the Escalade received from the IIHS only a Basic (one out of six points) ranking for its crash avoidance and mitigation system. Despite its popularity, the Escalade is second-tier when it comes to its own SUV fleet.

Cadillac CTS

The Cadillac CTS is considered a large luxury car, and while it has a solid safety ranking it is not at the top of its class. This is mainly due to weak crashworthiness performance (a Marginal ranking from the IIHS) in front and side impact situations. Also reducing the car’s safety ranking is the Poor rating it received for its headlight system, thanks to inadequate performance around curves.

The CTS did manage to get the highest safety rating for four different crashworthiness measures, including roof strength and head restraint. It’s crash avoidance and mitigation system also received a Superior ranking by the IIHS.

Car insurance savings tips

There are a number of ways you can save on automobile insurance you may not be considering. We’ve compiled here a number of factors that affect pricing formula used by any and all insurance providers. Take a look and see if you can implement any of these cost-saving measures.

Your location—We’re not suggesting that you move cities or states just to reduce your insurance rates, but if you are careful about how and where you use your vehicle, some savings could be the happy result. If your car is being used for a basic work commute in the peaceful suburbs versus a very long commute through the thickest of big-city traffic, your rate almost certainly will be affected. The bottom line is that some roads really are riskier than others.

Your past—Those speeding tickets—yes, even the “little one” for doing 30 in a 20 mph zone—can impact insurance rates for years to come. So make sure you take advantage of any legal options you have to improve your driving record, like going to traffic school. Each state and insurance carrier uses slightly different formulas and policies, but a ticket can clear off your record in as little as 2 years. Learn the system and make it work for you and your pocketbook rather than the other way around.

Your type—What you drive matters. The reason why vehicle value impacts insurance rates is, in large part, because replacing a stolen luxury car is far more costly than replacing your commuter car. Consider jumping down from a large SUV to a midsize or small SUV when you’re trying to trim costs. You may enjoy the downsizing of both vehicle and price.

Your credit—Though changes to this process may be evolving soon, for now, credit score affects your insurance rate, so pay off your credit cards or at the very least stay current on your credit card payments. Every point counts. If you’ve recently improved your credit score, it might be worth revisiting your insurance policy. Improved scores can lead to improved rates.

What gets frustrating for consumers are all the factors affecting insurance rates that cannot be controlled. Studies have shown that being male or female will impact your monthly costs. And the discrimination is equally distributed. In some states men pay more, in other states women pay more. Your age will factor in as well. The most expensive age group are teenagers, 16 to 19. The cheapest age group are those in their early 60s, surveys show.

Choose wisely

Research wisely to make choices more precisely. Those are good words to live by across many aspects of your financial life. Comparing price estimates from a variety of insurance companies is no exception to the rule.

Most carriers have competitive rates, but some carriers have a competitive advantage since they can bundle your auto insurance with other forms of insurance, like homeowners insurance.

Next, talk to your insurance agent about other potential savings. Something that gets overlooked a lot is how you can save if you are insuring your child. Ask your provider if they will lower your rates whenever you add any sort of safety device, like Hum by Verizon which helps track vehicle location and other driving data. Check into other things like garage versus carport and carport versus street parking, too. In other words, discounts can come from a myriad of factors. Explore them all. And when in doubt, ask questions!

We hope all this serves you in finding your best possible insurance rate. Please take a look around the rest of our site for things like interesting articles on leaders in the automobile history articles and other features stories on cutting-edge technology.